History shows polio caused by pesticide exposure, then was eradicated by decline in DDT use

One of the most common arguments people often use to defend vaccinations alleges that vaccines are responsible for eradicating epidemic diseases of the past such as polio and smallpox. But a recent investigative review put together by Jeffry John Aufderheide over at VacTruth.com explains not only why this claim is untrue, but also why pesticides may have been responsible for spurring these disease outbreaks in the first place.

As part of a trivia series on polio, Aufderheide cites several studies showing that the widespread use of chemical pesticides such as dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, or DDT, and heptachlor following World War II, actual exacerbated viral disease outbreaks across the United States.

On a visual graph, it is clearly seen that the production and use of pesticides throughout the mid-20th century is directly correlated to polio outbreaks, including the worst polio epidemic in known history, which occurred in 1952.

According to a report compiled by the Secretary of the Interior that was presented before the 85th Congress back in 1958, polio really only became a problem after the 1940s, when chemical companies began to produce large amounts of DDT, heptachlor, dieldrin, tetraethyl pyrophosphate (TEPP), malathion, benzene hexachloride (BHC) and other pesticide chemicals for use on agricultural crops. Prior to that time, polio was not nearly as virulent or problematic as many people believe it was.

As DDT and other pesticides were eventually phased out, cases of polio also began to decline, which suggests that vaccines may not have been primarily responsible for eradicating polio. Improvements in sanitation, which are hardly ever mentioned by mainstream health authorities, also played a major role in eradicating polio.

Pesticide-contaminated milk also responsible for polio outbreaks

A d v e r t i s e m e n t

Many people during the 1950s became ill as a result of pesticide-contaminated milk, much of which ended up having to be quietly pulled from store shelves in subsequent years. This contaminated milk was also known to be a primary carrier of polio, and was directly responsible for spreading the disease until the contaminating pesticides were eventually phased out, and the milk supply effectively remediated.

Interestingly, milk-induced disease outbreaks were responsible for the later creation of milk pasteurization mandates. But it was the pesticides and their tolerance of polio virus, not the fact that milk was raw, that was responsible for spreading disease. And yet the belief that raw milk is inherently dangerous is still prevalent today, while few have any real understanding of the role pesticide-tainted milk played in spreading disease, and particularly polio.

Right around the time that dangerous pesticides were being retired and sanitation was being improved, authorities released a polio vaccine that they claimed would eradicate the disease. The precise timing of this strategic release would later be used to claim that the vaccine, and not agricultural and sanitation improvements, was responsible for ending polio.

Revisionist history continues to fuel myth that vaccines are responsible for eradicating disease

Because of the way drug companies and vaccine manufacturers have influenced governmental and health authorities over the years, the myth that vaccines are responsible for eradicating disease has prevailed. Truth be told, the polio vaccine has been shown to actually cause many of the paralysis symptoms associated with polio, including in India where there has been a 1,200 percent increase vaccine-associated polio paralysis (VAPP) since the introduction of massive polio vaccine campaigns throughout the country (http://www.naturalnews.com/035588_polio_vaccine_India_paralysis.html[3]).